You just decided I was worth less than the alternative.

Your cowardice was stronger than your love.” He had no answer, because there is none.

I filed for divorce the next morning.

Chapter 16 — Still Out There

I did not go back to the apartment we had shared.

My parents took me home to their quiet neighborhood, and I began, slowly and badly, to try to feel safe again — and I could not, because the truth was that I was not yet safe.

My mother started sleeping with her phone under her pillow.